Stream of Consciousness recently conducted an interview with the one and only Devin Townsend about his new album Ki and upcoming records in the “Devin Townsend Project” thing he’s working on. Here’s an excerpt of the very interesting interview:

Rachel: [laugh] I think you look good with the shaved head.

Devin: Well thank you, yeah so do I. I think I look better at least. It’s like before I became a character, right? It’s kind of hard to go into the bank and asking for a loan when you look like that.

Rachel: [laugh] It’s been said that Deconstruction will be some of your heaviest music. What makes it so?

Devin: Because the whole idea of Deconstruction is deconstructing why we’re attached to heavy music. I put out Ki and people want to listen to it and it’s like this is a really good record. But there’s a whole network of people that are like, “No no no no no! We only want heavy music, we only want chaotic music, we only want devilish, horrible, destructive music” and I’m like well why? I’ll do it for you, but just tell me why first. “Because we love it, because we love it.” Why do you love it? Ya know? “Fuck the world, fuck the world, fuck everything man, only heavy, only metal” and I’m like ok, I’ll tell you what I’ll make you that record, but I’m going to sing about why we’re liking this music. Honestly, at the root of it, I think humans are really terrified and I think a lot of people who really love heavy music love it because it’s a way for them to protect themselves. If you put this thing forward and are like “I’m going to scare people with my music”, then no one’s going to get to the root of the fact that maybe it’s just you that are terrified and that’s your way of protecting yourself, that’s your defense mechanism. It’s one thing to say, “Oh I’m mad at God”, but maybe you’re really just mad at your father, you know? And I think that all these themes… that’s the thing that’s really interesting to me about heavy music now it’s like yes I love heavy music absolutely, but man to think that’s the only thing that I’m able to offer and that’s the only thing that certain people are willing to accept from me? You know, it’s not like I’m pissed off about it, but it’s kind of like are you sure you really want to know why you really like this with the exclusion of everything else?